Living Room Makeover

by Stacy | BlakeHillHouse

Medium

The living room in our 1800s home was in need of a whole lot of TLC in the form of DIY. It was a beautiful space, but it had some problems that prevented us from getting comfortable.

living room makeover, home decor, living room ideas

My chief complaints were that the room was very dark and it smelled bad. Even when the day was sunny outside, the living room stayed depressingly dark due to the green woodwork, our terrible furniture, and the worn out wallpaper. The room also smelled like musty dampness and fireplace soot due to the old rug and the odors that had seeped into the wallpaper over the past 70 years. (Yes, we estimated that the wallpaper had been on the wall for that long!)

Our Living Room Before

The first step was to remove the two layers of wallpaper in this room. It could have been far worse for a 125-year-old home. I have read many stories about owners finding 4-6 layers of wallpaper in their old homes.

We had broken window panes and sash cords to fix, a ceiling cave-in, and hours upon hours of prep, priming and finally painting. After months of work in our spare time, the living room was "done enough." DIYers, you know exactly what I mean, right?

Once we added new furniture, the basic transformation was complete.

Our Living Room AFTER!

The room continues to improve aesthetically as we add more details. This is an updated photo from last fall.

For the full details of this project outlined in several posts, we hope you will visit our blog. If you love complete transformations like this one and the wonderful detail and character of old homes, our blog is definitely for you.

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7 comments

Margarite on Feb 05, 2016
Big difference. Love the new look.

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- Stacy | BlakeHillHouse on Feb 05, 2016
  @Margarite Thank you!
  
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GrandmasHouseDIY on Feb 05, 2016
The amount of character going on in that room is absolutely awesome. I'm jealous! You updated it and made it so beautiful and light without forsaking any of the old details. Great job!

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- Stacy | BlakeHillHouse on Feb 05, 2016
  @GrandmasHouseDIY Thank you! Preserving the details is so important to us. I sometimes feel more like the caretaker of this home vs. the owner.
  
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- GrandmasHouseDIY on Feb 05, 2016
  @Stacy@BlakeHillHouse I know exactly how you feel! We have my grandparents' 100 year old farm house and I feel a lot more like a caretaker as opposed to a home owner most of the time :)
  
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- Stacy | BlakeHillHouse on Feb 05, 2016
  @GrandmasHouseDIY How neat! That must feel very special.
  
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- GrandmasHouseDIY on Feb 05, 2016
  @Stacy@BlakeHillHouse Every now and again I think of how much less stress it would be if we had a house that we were the only people that cared about it lol. But it is very cool :)
  
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